1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus which is capable of recoding an image on a paper.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, in an image recording apparatus of ink-jet type which includes a recording head on a lower surface of a carriage capable of reciprocating in a main scanning direction, and a transporting unit (paper feeder) transporting (carrying) a paper (recording medium) in a secondary scanning direction, that is orthogonal to the main scanning direction, along a lower surface of the recording head, and which is capable of recoding (printing) an image on the paper, the transporting unit includes a pair of resist rollers provided on an upstream side in the secondary scanning direction (transporting direction), sandwiching a carriage, and a paper discharging mechanism which is provided on a downstream side in the secondary scanning direction and which discharges the paper after recording an image thereon.
Further, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 9-295412 (see FIG. 2) for example, the image recording apparatus is hitherto simplified by adopting a structure which includes a maintenance section at one of end portions in the main scanning direction, and a maintenance section, a transporting mechanism (resist rollers), and a paper discharging mechanism (paper discharging roller mechanism) are rotated and driven by one common drive motor (driving source).
Furthermore, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 9-295412, for preventing a load of the common drive motor to be excessive at a time of performing the maintenance, the image recording apparatus is structured such that while motive power from the common drive motor is transmitted all the time to a transporting unit via a train (row) of gears, the motive power is transmitted selectively to the maintenance section via a clutch mechanism. In this structure, at a time of start of the maintenance, when a paper is left (remained) in the transporting unit, firstly, only the transporting unit is driven, and the paper is discharged. Then, the carriage is moved to the maintenance section, and the clutch is switched such that the motive power is transmitted to the maintenance section.
Further, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-128351 (see FIG. 2), in a paper discharging mechanism, drive rollers which are in contact with the lower surface of a paper, and are driven and rotated in a direction of paper discharge, and a plurality of spurs are provided with a bias applied (force imparted) on each of the spurs towards the drive rollers respectively. The spurs are in contact with a surface (upper surface) of the paper on which an image has been recorded, and rotates upon being driven by the discharge operation of the paper. Furthermore, a structure in which the transporting mechanism and the paper discharging mechanism are rotated and driven by one drive motor (driving source) has been common.
According to the above-mentioned structure, each of the spurs has a large number of teeth on a peripheral line (edge) thereof, and a front tip of each of the teeth makes a so-called point-to-point contact with an image-recording surface of the paper. Therefore, even when the spurs make a contact with the paper immediately after the image has been recorded, there is an advantage that there is little fear of dirtying the paper recording surface, and/or damaging a formed image.